Yarn carrier



July 22, 194-1. FEUSTEL 2,250,158

YARN CARRIER Filed NOV. 13, 1939 mvsmon Ernesf'fli BY 'ITORNEY.

Patented Ju lyr22, 1941 UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE YARZZZQHS Ernest a. Feustei, Basbrouck Heights, N. J- pp cat on 1:03:12. 81:12:] No. 304,062

The present inventionrelates to certain new and useful improvements'in yarn carriers, .and it relates more "particularly to yarn carriers for full-fashioned hosiery knitting machines and the 1 like, wherein the thread is paid out through a replaceable thread-guiding tube whichis removably mounted on the yarn carrier.

Ithas been the practice'in' the art of full-fashioned hosiery knitting machines to provide yarn carriers or yarn carrier fingers with fine bores at their delivery ends, through which the threads pass as they are being paid outacross the nee- ..dle bank in front of the sinkers, and generallyor usually, small-diametered metal tubes are sewith the passageways inside said tubes constituting the fine-bores through which these threads are paid out. The lower lips of these thread guiding tubes are crossed by the threads being sectional view taken on line 6-8 of Figure '2,

' merges withan' elongated aperture I! in the body cured to the ends of the yarn carrier fingers,

.of finger l0, disposed on a'curved zone I! located near the bottom of the finger ll...

paid-out, usually at an angle of approximately These worn tubes must therefore bev and yet inexpensive construction, having im-" proved means for operatively positioning and releasably retaining a thread-guiding tube at its lower end, said means being readily adapted to be rendered inoperative to permit ready replacement of the tube when worn. Other objects will appear more fully from the following detailed description, accompanying drawing and appended claim.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts,

Figure 1 represents. a perspective view of a yam carrier finger constituting an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

.Figure 2 represents an enlarged fragmentary view of the underside of the lower end. of the finger illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 represents an enlarged longitudinal, sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 6 represents an enlarged transverse i The-extreme lower end portion of finger i0 is longitudinally slit at H, with the upper end of slit I 4 communicating with the aperture l2, therpby dividing the lower end portion of finger in into two opposed jaws i5, each extending longitudinally from the lowermost edge of finger ll .up to the lower end of groove I I.

As more particularly illustrated in Figure 6. the juxtaposed edges of this slit ll are preterably cylindrically grooved as at II, to conform with the exterior surface of a generally cylindrical thread-guiding tube I! which is operatively ipped between the opposed jaws l5. 1 This tube I1 is frictionally retained between the jaws it, which are preferably spring-tempered to permit some slight yielding movement when the to permit the ready extraction of this tube II for replacement purposes -without undue difllculty. These jaws l5 preferably exert a sumciently strong force on the thread-guiding tube I! to prevent any unintended axial shifting of this tube, particularly in a downward direction.

In order to facilitate the axial entry of tube I! into the upper end of slit II, the lower portion I 8 of this tube may be slightly tapered to a degree suflicient to ermitthe lower end of the tube I! to enter the upper end of slit it when the jaws ii are relaxed. Thereafter, the tube I! may be forced axially downwardly into slit M by any suitable means, as for instance,

by means of a pair of pliers, whereupon the advance tapered portion l8 on tube I! will gradually spread the jaws i5 apart to the required,

the lower curved portion thereofa relatively extensive shallow recess II. which overlaps the flnger aperture l2 and extends for a substantial distance beyond the outline of said-aperture on either side of and above said aperture, thereby providing the surrounding webs 20 and 2|. A curved leaf-spring 22 is seated inside this recess l9, flush with the under-surface of finger ill on all sides, and generally completely occupying the space defined by said recess. The upper end of this leaf-spring 22 may be secured to the finger I in any suitable manner, as for instance by 'means of a pair of pliers or thelike.

of the slit l4. causing the free edge 24 or the leaf spring to flex rearwardly, and then forcibly sliding the tube downwardly into the slit II by When the upper edge of this new tube I'I clears the rearwardly flexed lower spring-edge 24, the latter will spring back into its recess l9 and will again obstruct the upper edge of tube I'I, thereby 1 'acting as an abutment fixing the position of the means of the illustrated transversely-spacedrivets 23, which extend through the web 2|. In its normal position, the curved leaf-spring 22 may either possess suilicient inherent tension to urge the lower free end of this spring upwardly into intimate contact with the under-surfaces of the webs 20, or, if desired, this curved leaf-spring 22 may merely rest within the recess it in a relaxed condition, but with the lower portion of said leaf-spring being curved in conformance with the curved zone I! on the finger ID to lie adjacent the webs 20. In eithercase. however, the

lower edge 24 of theleaf-spring '22 in its normal position lies directly over the upper edge of the thread-guiding tube l'l without obstructing the inner bore thereof, all as illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 5.

In the illustrated embodiment, the leaf-spring 22 bears an aperture 25 which registers with the aperture l2 in the finger III. This spring aperture 25 serves a dual purpose, flrstly, it permits the insertion of anysuitable tool or instrument through leaf-spring 22 for flexing the free end thereof outwardly into anon-obstructing position relative to the guide-tube ll, as indicated in dashed-dotted lines in Figure 3,' and, secondly, the presence of aperture 25 in the bending axis of leaf-spring 22 renders the lower end of this leaf-spring somewhat more resilient, due to the resultant reduction in metal.

- claim rather than to the foregoing description to tube and preventing unintended upward axial shifting thereof.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is -therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being bad to the appended indicate the scope of the invention.

When the lower edge 24 of the leaf-spring 22 is thus-flexed into its non-obstructing position relative tothe guide-tube H, the latter may be extracted from between'the clamping jaws I! by being slid axially upwardly out of the slit I4 by any suitable means, as: for instance by means of a pair of pliers or the like. A new threadguiding tube I! may: then be readily operatively positioned intermediate the jaws l5 by inserting its lower tapered portion i8 into the upper end Having thus describedthe invention, what is hereby. claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a knitting machine, a thread carrier finger having a relatively long flat body transversely curved near its lower end, an aperture in said body at its curved portion, a longitudinal slit at the lower end of said body extending upwardly to said aperture, a fine-bore thread-guiding tube frictionally retained in said slit and extractable therefrom by axial movement, the tube'being of generally uniform outside diameter along a portion thereof extending from within said slit upwardly to the uppermost edge of said tube, a

recess on the under-surface of said body atitsv into a non-obstructing position relative to said tubeedge, to permit the tube to be inserted into or extracted from said slit by being slid axially into or out of said slit.

ERNEST A. FEUSTEL. 

